Stabilized compounds having secondary structure motifs

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides novel stabilized crosslinked compounds having secondary structure motifs, libraries of these novel compounds, and methods for the synthesis of these compounds libraries thereof. The synthesis of these novel stabilized compounds involves (1) synthesizing a peptide from a selected number of natural or non-natural amino acids, wherein said peptide comprises at least two moieties capable of undergoing reaction to promote carbon-carbon bond formation; and (2) contacting said peptide with a reagent to generate at least one crosslinker and to effect stabilization of a secondary structure motif. The present invention, in a preferred embodiment, provides stabilized p53 donor helical peptides. Additionally, the present invention provides methods for disrupting the p53/MDM2 binding interaction comprising (1) providing a crosslinked stabilized α-helical structure; and (2) contacting said crosslinked stabilized α-helical structure with MDM2.

This application claims the benefit of provisional application Nos. 60/134,708 filed May 18, 1999 and 60/167,634 filed Nov. 26, 1999.

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

This invention was supported by NIH Grant No. GM51330 and the government has certain rights to the invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The important biological roles that peptides play as hormones, enzyme inhibitors, substrates, neurotransmitters, and neuromediators has led to the widespread use of peptides in medicinal chemistry as therapeutic agents. Through binding to receptors or enzymes, peptides are able to influence cell-cell communication and control vital cell functions such as metabolism, immune defense and reproduction. Babine et al., Chem. Rev. 1997, 97, 1359). Unfortunately, the utility of peptides as drugs is severely limited by several factors, including their rapid degradation by peptidases under physiological conditions, their poor cell permeability, and their lack of binding specificity resulting from conformational flexibility.

In response to these unfavorable characteristics of peptide drugs, many research groups have developed strategies for the design and synthesis of chemical compounds, known as “peptidomimetics”, in which sensitive peptide moieties are removed and replaced with more robust functionalities. In particular, resechers have sought to improve peptide stability and cell permeability by replacing the amide functionality with groups such as hydroxyethylene, (E)-alkenes, carba groups and phosphonamide groups (see, Gante, J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1994, 33, 1699-1720, and references cited therein).

Another approach that researchers have taken in the development of peptide drugs is the study of, initiation of, and retention of peptide secondary structures. These secondary structures, α-helices, β-sheets, turns, and loops, are essential conformational components for peptides and proteins because bioactive conformations are fixed to a high degree by such structural elements. Because of the biological importance of these secondary structures, the development of novel structures incorporating these secondary structures has been a subject of intense research (see, for example, R. M. J. Liskamp, Recl. Trav. Chim. Pays-Bas 1994, 113, 1; Giannis, T. Kolter, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1993, 32, 1244; P. D. Bailey, Peptide Chemistry, Wiley, N.Y., 1990, p. 182). In particular, the formation of α-helices by peptides has been of interest because many biologically important protein interactions, such as p53/MDM2 and Bcl-X1/Bak, are mediated by one protein donating a helix into a cleft of its α-helix-accepting partner. Unfortunately, it has been very difficult to mimic the approximately 12 amino acids (i.e., three turns of an alpha helix) required to form a stabilized isolated helical peptide. As described in “Bioorganic Chemistry: Peptides and Proteins”, Chapter 12, Peptide Mimetics, Nakanishi and Kahn, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, most of the effort in the design and synthesis of α-helix mimetics has centered around N-termination initiation motifs. Furthermore, studies have been undertaken to understand the mechanisms of α-helix formation by peptides, and thus studies of helix-stabilizing side chain interactions, and template-nucleated α-helix formation have been investigated (see, J. Martin Scholtz and Robert L. Baldwin, “The Mechanism of α-Helix Formation by Peptides, Ann. Rev. Biophys. Biomol. Struct. 1992, 21, 95, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference) in an attempt to understand—helix formation to aid in the future development of stabilized α-helix structures.

Clearly, it would be desirable to develop novel methods to generate stabilized-helical structures, as well as other secondary structures, to enable the investigation of complex structure-function relationships in proteins and ultimately to enable the development of novel therapeutics incorporating specific stabilized secondary structure motifs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides novel compounds having stabilized secondary structure motifs, and methods for their preparation. In general, the synthesis of these stabilized secondary structures involves (1) synthesizing a peptide from a selected number of natural or non-natural amino acids, wherein said peptide comprises at least two reactive moieties capable of undergoing a carbon-carbon bond forming reaction; and (2) contacting said peptide with a reagent to generate at least one crosslinker and to effect stabilization of a specific secondary structure motif. In one embodiment, the present invention provides novel alpha helix structures having stabilizing crosslinkers, libraries of these novel alpha helix structures, and methods for the synthesis of these alpha helices and libraries thereof. In certain embodiments, olefin metathesis reactions are utilized to generate these novel α-helical structures comprising (1) synthesizing a peptide from a selected number of natural or non-natural amino acids, wherein said peptide comprises at least two vinyl amino acids capable of undergoing an olefin metathesis reaction or comprises at least one divinyl amino acid and at least two vinyl amino acids capable of undergoing olefin metathesis reactions; and (2) contacting said peptide with a metathesis catalyst to generate at least one crosslinker and to effect stabilization of an alpha helix structure. In one preferred embodiment, at least two vinyl amino acids are incorporated into the peptide synthesis to generate at least one crosslinker. In another preferred embodiment, at least two vinyl amino acids and at least one divinyl amino acid are incorporated to generate at least two crosslinkers originating from the same amino acid. Alternatively, any combination of divinyl amino acids and vinyl amino acids may be incorporated to generate desired crosslinked structures. It will also be appreciated that in certain embodiments, one or more of either of these crosslinker motifs can be incorporated into a desired stabilized-helix structure.

In another embodiment, the method of the present invention is utilized to provide stabilized p53 donor helical peptides by incorporating vinyl amino acids into this structural motif and reacting said vinyl amino acids to generate stabilized-helical structures. Additionally, the present invention provides methods for disrupting the p53/MDM2 binding interaction comprising (1) providing a crosslinker stabilized-helical structure; and (2) contacting said stabilized-helical structure with MDM2.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, in one embodiment, the novel compounds having stabilized secondary structure motifs of the present invention can be synthesized one-at-at time, using traditional peptide synthetic techniques, to generate a particular structural motif. In preferred embodiments, however, the these novel stabilized secondary structures are synthesized using combinatorial synthetic techniques, in solution or on the solid support, to generate diverse libraries of novel stabilized compounds having desired secondary structure motifs. Whether using traditional synthetic techniques or combinatorial synthetic techniques, the method of the present invention provides for the generation of compounds having desired stabilized secondary structure motifs that can be based on existing structural motifs (p53) or that can represent novel unnatural peptide secondary structure motifs to explore heretofore unknown biological interactions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 depicts a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention in which a helix crosslinker is installed using olefin metathesis.

FIG. 2 depicts the installation of a divinyl amino acid for the stabilization of four turns.

FIG. 3 depicts the synthesis of -methyl -alkylolefin amino acids.

FIG. 4 depicts several different -methyl, -alkylolefin amino acids for use in the present invention.

FIG. 5 depicts the synthesis of an Fmoc protected divinyl amino acid.

FIG. 6 depicts several different stabilized -helix structures of the present invention.

FIG. 6A depicts experimental determination of exemplary helix stabilizers.

FIG. 7 depicts variations in metathesis yields in a two hour reaction.

FIG. 8 depicts a graph showing a summary of -helicity and metathesis percentages.

FIG. 9 depicts results showing that metathesized D7L11 is a monomer.

FIG. 10 depicts a fluorescence polarization binding study of p53 peptides with MDM2.

FIG. 11 depicts the model peptide as a substrate for the protease trypsin.

FIG. 12 depicts rates of Trypsin cleavage.

FIG. 13 depicts raw data for trypsin cleavage rate constants.

FIG. 14 depicts D7L11 as an exemplary helix stabilizer.

FIG. 15 depicts that stabilized helices may inactivate overexpressed MDM2.

FIG. 16 depicts exemplary stabilized compounds for use in the P53/Mdm2 system.

FIG. 17 depicts exemplary stabilized compounds for use in the Bak/Bcl-x_(L) system.

FIG. 18 depicts the binding of Bak peptides to BCl-X_(L).

FIG. 19 depicts a strategy for stabilizing α-helices through an all-hydrocarbon crosslinking system. The key components of the system are α-methylated amino acids 1, bearing olefinic side-chains of varying length and configured with either R or S stereochemistry. These are incorporated into peptides at the i and either i+4 or i+7 position, and then connected via olefin metathesis to crosslink one or two turns, respectively, of the helix. The overall side-chain length of 1=n+2, and of the crosslinks=n+n+2. The nomenclature Ri,i+7S(11) refers to a peptide with an R and an S configurated amino acid at positions “i”, and “i+7” respectively, and 11 carbons in the metathesized crosslink.

FIG. 20. (A) Different crosslinks destabilize and stabilize the helix to different extents in the Ri,i+7S series. (B) In the Ri,i+7Sseries α-methyl amino acids increase helical structure by ca. 15%. Inducing a crosslink using olefin metathesis has an effect on helicity that depends on the crosslink length. Ri,i+7S(11) is the best helix stabilizer. The uncertainties in these measurements are no greater than +/−5%.

FIG. 21 depicts data relating to the sedimentation equilibruium of Ri, i+7S(11). The graph depicts the experimentally observed absorbance at 225 nm of Ri,i+7S(11) (open circles), the calculated absorbance at 225 nm of a corresponding idealized monomeric peptide (solid line), and the calculated absorbance at 225 nm of a corresponding idealized dimeric peptide (dashed lines); all data is presented as a function of the radius of the sample. The experimental data fits the calculated data for the idealized monomeric peptide.

DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides stabilized compounds having specific secondary structure motifs and improved methods for generating stabilized compounds having these specific secondary structure motifs. The novel stabilized compounds of the present invention are useful where such structural motifs are advantageous; for example, in drug design and delivery, and in but a few examples, as inhibitors of p53/MDM2 and Bak/Bcl-x_(L) interactions..

In general, the synthesis of these stabilized secondary structures involves (1) synthesizing a peptide from a selected number of natural or non-natural amino acids, wherein said peptide comprises at least two reactive moieties capable of undergoing a C—C bond forming reaction; and (2) contacting said peptide with a reagent to generate at least one crosslinker and to effect stabilization of a specific secondary structure motif. In one embodiment, the present invention provides novel alpha helix structures having stabilizing crosslinkers, libraries of these novel alpha helix structures, and methods for the synthesis of these alpha helices and libraries thereof. In certain embodiments, olefin metathesis reactions are utilized to generate these novel α-helical structures comprising (1) synthesizing a peptide from a selected number of natural or non-natural amino acids, wherein said peptide comprises at least two vinyl amino acids capable of undergoing an olefin metathesis reaction or comprises at least one divinyl amino acid and at least two vinyl amino acids capable of undergoing olefin metathesis reactions; and (2) contacting said peptide with a metathesis catalyst to generate at least one crosslinker and to effect stabilization of an alpha helix structure. In one preferred embodiment, at least two vinyl amino acids are incorporated into the peptide synthesis to generate at least one crosslinker. In another preferred embodiment, at least two vinyl amino acids and at least one divinyl amino acid are incorporated to generate at least two crosslinkers originating from the same amino acid. Alternatively, any combination of divinyl amino acids and vinyl amino acids may be incorporated to generate desired crosslinked structures. It will also be appreciated that in certain embodiments, one or more of either of these crosslinker motifs can be incorporated into a desired stabilized-helix structure.

In another embodiment, the method of the present invention is utilized to provide stabilized p53 donor helical peptides by incorporating vinyl amino acids into this structural motif and reacting said vinyl amino acids to generate stabilized-helical structures. Additionally, the present invention provides methods for disrupting the p53/MDM2 binding interaction comprising (1) providing a crosslinker stabilized-helical structure; and (2) contacting said stabilized-helical structure with MDM2.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, in one embodiment, the novel compounds having stabilized secondary structure motifs of the present invention can be synthesized one-at-at time, using traditional peptide synthetic techniques, to generate a particular structural motif. In preferred embodiments, however, the these novel stabilized secondary structures are synthesized using combinatorial synthetic techniques, in solution or on the solid support, to generate diverse libraries of novel stabilized compounds having desired secondary structure motifs. Whether using traditional synthetic techniques or combinatorial synthetic techniques, the method of the present invention provides for the generation of compounds having desired stabilized secondary structure motifs that can be based on existing structural motifs or that can represent novel unnatural peptide secondary structure motifs to explore heretofore unknown biological interactions.

Certain preferred embodiments of the novel compound having stabilized secondary structures will be described below; however, this description is not meant to limit the scope of the present invention. Rather, it will be appreciated that all equivalents are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Synthesis of Novel Compounds Having Stabilized Secondary Structure Motifs

As discussed above, the present invention provides novel stabilized compounds having specific secondary structure motifs, libraries thereof, and methods for the preparation of these copounds and libraries thereof. In certain preferred embodiments, the present invention also provides novel α-helix structures, libraries thereof, and methods for the preparation of these α-helices and libraries thereof. Although the following discussion and description of the method of the present invention focuses on alpha helices, it will be appreciated that the methods of the present invention can be applied to generate other peptide secondary structures as well.

The synthesis of novel α-helix structures first involves the selection of a desired number of amino acid starting materials. As one of ordinary skill in the art will realize, the number, stereochemistry, and type of amino acid structures (natural or non-natural) selected will depend upon the size of the α-helix to be prepared, the ability of the particular amino acids to generate the α-helix structural motif, and any particular motifs that are desirable to mimic (for example, the p53 donor helical peptide). Furthermore, as mentioned above, for the synthesis of the stabilized alpha helixes, in one preferred embodiment, at least two of the desired amino acids to be utilized in the synthesis are vinyl amino acids capable of undergoing ring closing metathesis reactions to generate at least one stabilizing crosslinker, as shown in FIG. 1. In another preferred embodiment, the peptide to be synthesized incorporates at least two vinyl amino acids and one divinyl amino acid to generate at least two stabilizing crosslinkers originating from the same amino acid moiety, as shown in FIG. 2. It will be appreciated, however, that the number of crosslinking moieties is not limited to one or two, as described above, respectively; rather the number of crosslinking moieties utilized can be varied with the length of the alpha helix as desired, and as compatible with the desired structure to be generated.

In particularly preferred embodiments, α-methyl, α-vinyl amino acids are utilized in the present invention as precursors for crosslinker formation. FIG. 3 depicts a general scheme of the synthesis of α-methyl, α-alkylolefin amino acids. As shown in FIG. 3, commercially available lactone (1) is treated with methyl iodide and sodium tetramethyl disilylazide to generate the methylated lactone (2). Subsequent treatment with a homoallyl iodide in the presence of potassium tetramethyl disilylazide yields the homoallyloxazinone (3). Sodium metal reduction, acid hydrolysis, and protection with Fmoc-NHS generates the protected α-methyl, α-alkylolefin (4) for use in the synthesis of the novel alpha helix structures. As one of ordinary skill in the art will realize, a variety of homoallyl reagents can be utilized to generate amino acids having different lengths of olefin chains. It will also be appreciated that these olefin chains can also be further functionalized with moieties including, but not limited to, branched or linear alkyl moieties, hydroxyl moieties, thiol moieties, amines, carboxyl moieties and substituted or unsubstituted aryl moieties, to name a few. FIG. 4 also depicts certain preferred α-methyl, α-alkylolefin amino acids for use in the present invention having different olefin chain lengths.

As discussed above, the novel-helices of the present invention may also contain two crosslinking units originating from one amino acid. This is facilitated by the synthesis of a divinyl amino acid, from which two olefin metathesis reactions can originate, and is preferably incorporated into the desired peptide synthesis. FIG. 5 depicts the synthesis of an Fmoc protected divinyl amino acid. As shown in FIG. 5, reaction of diphenyliminoglycine (1) sequentially with two equivalents of phenylvinylsulfoxide (2) generates a bis phenylsulfoxide (3), which, upon treatment with xylenes under reflux conditions, eliminates to yield the divinyl moiety (4). Subsequent saponification, acid hydrolysis and deprotection yields the unprotected divinyl glycine moiety (5). Finally, protection with Fmoc-NHS at room temperature yields the protected divinyl glycine moiety (6) for use in the synthesis of the novel α-helix structures of the present invention.

Although vinyl amino acids and divinyl amino acids are preferably utilized to generate the preferred crosslinking moieties as discussed above using ring closing metathesis reactions, the other amino acids utilized in the peptide synthesis may be selected from any standard or nonstandard amino acids. The standard amino acids include Glycine, Alanine, Valine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Proline, Phenylalanine, Tryptophan, Methionine, Serine, Threonine, Cysteine, Tyrosine, Asparagine, Glutamine, Aspartic acid, Glutamic acid, Lysine, Arginine and Histidine. There are over 700 known nonstandard amino acids any of which may be included in the peptide precursors for use in the present invention. See, for example, S. Hunt, The Non-Protein Amino Acids: In Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Amino Acids, edited by G. C. Barrett, Chapman and hall, 1985. Some examples of non-standard amino acids are β-alanine, D-alanine, 4-hydroxyproline, desmosine, D-glutamic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid, β-cyanoalanine, norvaline, 4-(E)-butenyl-4-(R)-methyl-N-methyl-L-threonine, N-methyl-L-leucine, and statine. Additionally, the amino acids suitable for use in the present invention may be derivatized to include amino acid residues that are hydroxylated, phosphorylated, sulfonated, and glycosylated, to name a few. Additionally, these amino acids may include functional groups including, but not limited to alcohol, thiol, ketone, aldehyde, ester, ether, amine, imine, amide, nitro acid, carboxylic acid, disulfide, carbonate, carboalkoxy acid, isocyanate, carbodiimide, carboalkoxy and halogen functional groups. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, however, that certain amino acids are capable of promoting formation of alpha helix structures or other desired secondary structures, and thus these specific amino acids are particularly preferred for use in the present invention, depending on the desired secondary structure to be generated. For a detailed discussion of helix propensities studied in various substitution experiments, see Scholtz and Baldwin, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Furthermore, as discussed above, it may be desirable to mimic an existing peptide α-helical structure, or other secondary structure, having the crosslinking moiety incorporated therein according to the method of the present invention.

Once the desired amino acids are selected for the synthesis of a desired peptide according to the present invention, synthesis of the desired peptide can be achieved using standard deprotection and coupling reactions. One example of a preferred solution phase peptide synthesis coupling protocol includes the use of N,N-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC)/1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBT) as a peptide coupling agent (see, M. Bordansky, Petpide Chemistry, Springer Verlag, N.Y., 1988, pp. 55-146 the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference). Other peptide synthesis techniques have been extensively discussed in “Bioorganic Chemistry” as cited herein. One of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the choice of a particular synthetic technique will depend upon the particular structures to be synthesized.

After a desired peptide is synthesized using an appropriate technique, the peptide is contacted with a specific reagent to promote carbon-carbon bond formation. In one particular embodiment, a metathesis catalyst is utilized to effect one or more olefin metathesis reactions and subsequent generation of a crosslinker and stabilization of the alpha helix or other desired secondary structure. One of ordinary skill in the art will realize that a variety of metathesis catalysts can be utilized in the present invention. Selection of a particular catalyst will vary with the reaction conditions utilized and the functional groups present in the particular peptide. Exemplary catalysts include, but are not limited to stabilized, late transition metal carbene complex catalysts such as Group VIII transition metal carbene catalysts, most preferably Ru and Os metal centers having a +2 oxidation state, an electron count of 16 and pentacoordinated. One of ordinary skill in the art will realize that other appropriate olefin metathesis catalysts may be utilized. For an excellent discussion of metathesis reactions, see, Grubbs et al., “Ring Closing Metathesis and Related Processes in Organic Synthesis” Acc. Chem. Res. 1995, 28, 446-452, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,515.

It will also be appreciated, that in addition to olefin metathesis catalysts, other reagents capable of promoting carbon-carbon bond formation can also be utilized. For example, other reactions that can be utilized, include, but are not limited to palladium coupling reactions, transition metal catalyzed cross coupling reactions, pinacol couplings (terminal aldehydes), hydrozirconation (terminal alkynes), nucleophilic addition reactions, and NHK (Nozaki-Hiyama-Kishi (Fürstner et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 12349)) coupling reactions. Thus, the appropriate reactive moieties (alkene, alkyne, aldehyde etc.) are first incorporated into desired amino acids or unnatural amino acids (see vinyl amino acid synthesis for one example), and then the peptide is subjected to reaction conditions to effect carbon-carbon bond formation which results in the formation of a crosslinker and subsequent stabilization of a desired secondary structure.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method of the present invention was utilized to engineer stabilized alpha helical peptides that are capable of binding tightly to a helix acceptor and disrupting native protein/protein interactions. Towards this end, two alpha-methyl, alpha-alkyl terminal olefin unnatural amino acids, were incorporated into the peptide fragment that forms the donor helix in the native complex (p53) and cross-linking the amino acids using a ruthenium metathesis catalyst to form a bridge that stabilizes the peptide in an alpha helical conformation. Using this approach, 14 different model peptides (as shown in FIG. 6), incorporating different stereochemistry, vinyl amino acid placements and carbon chain lengths, were synthesized to explore the different ways of stabilizing the helix. Each of these were characterized by circular dichroism spectroscopy to determine the stabilization in an alpha helical conformation. FIG. 6A also depicts the experimental determination of the best helix stabilizer. FIG. 7 depicts the variation in the metathesis yields in a two hour reaction. As shown in FIG. 8, the % helicity is compared for metathesized and unmetathesized peptides and D7L11 provides the optimal helicity. Thus, it is particularly preferred to generate a structure having a cross link from residue (i) to residue (i+7) with (S) stereochemistry at the alpha carbon of residue (i) and (R) stereochemistry at position (i+7). It is also particularly preferred that the number of carbons in the crosslinker is eleven. As shown in FIG. 8, helix stabilizing cross-linker caused the model peptide to exhibit almost 90% helicity in water. FIG. 9 additionally shows that metathesized D7L11 is a monomer.

As an example of the utility of these novel stabilized alpha helix structures, this preferred alpha helix structure was implemented in the p53/MDM2 system by synthesizing two stabilized p53 donor helical peptides and determining their binding to the Xenopus MDM2 protein. The unnatural amino acids are incorporated into the p53 donor fragment on the side of the helix that does not interact with MDM2 so as not to disrupt the evolved p53/MDM2 binding interface. Preliminary fluorescence polarization results, as depicted in FIG. 10, show that both stabilized p53 peptides begin to bind MDM2 at 100 fold lower MDM2 concentration, and thus 100 fold tighter, than the native p53 donor fragment.

Additionally, FIG. 11 shows that the model peptide is a substrate for the protease trypsin. As depicted in FIGS. 12, 13, and 14, an inventive stabilized compound D7L11 shows the slowest rate of trypsin cleavage, and thus is an exemplary helix stabilizer.

Combinatorial Synthesis of Novel Stabilized Structures

It will also be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the method described above can also be applied to combinatorial synthesis of the novel stabilized structures having desired secondary structures. Although combinatorial synthesis techniques can be applied in solution, it is particularly preferred that combinatorial techniques are performed on the solid phase using split-and-pool techniques. In general, in a preferred method of the present invention, Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis (SPPS) techniques are utilized. Similarly to solution phase techniques, in solid phase techniques, the choice of the protecting groups must be considered, as well as the specific coupling techniques to be utilized. For a detailed discussion of peptide synthesis techniques for solution phase and solid phase reactions, see, Hecht, ed. “Bioorganic chemistry: Peptides and Proteins, Oxford University Press, New York: 1998, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention, in one aspect, provides methods for the synthesis of libraries of novel stabilized compounds having secondary structure motifs comprising (1) providing a collection of resin-bound amino acids; (2) deprotecting each of said resin bound amino acids; (3) separating said collection of deprotected resin bound amino acids into n equal portions, wherein n represents the number of different types of amino acids to be coupled; (4) coupling of each of n types of amino acids to the deprotected amino acid; (5) combining each of the n portions together; (6) repeating steps (2)-(5) until a desired peptide is obtained, wherein at least two of the amino acids coupled at any step comprise substituted or unsubstituted vinyl amino acids capable of undergoing ring closing metathesis reaction, or wherein at least one amino acid coupled at any step comprises a substituted or unsubstituted divinyl amino acid and at least two of the amino acids incorporated at any step comprise substituted or unsubstituted vinyl amino acids, whereby said divinyl amino acid and said vinyl amino acid are capable of undergoing ring closing metathesis reactions to generate two cross-linkers originating from the same amino acid; and (7) contacting said peptide with a ring closing metathesis catalyst to generate a library of cross-linked stabilized-helix peptide structures. During the course of the combinatorial synthesis, various parameters can be varied, including, but not limited to vinyl and divinyl amino acid placement, stereochemistry of amino acids, vinyl and divinyl chain length and functionality and amino acid residues utilized. Furthermore, as discussed above, other reactive moieties (such as aldehydes or alkynes, to name a few) can be utilized instead of alkene moieties and thus other carbon-carbon bond forming reactions can be utilized to form stabilized compounds having secondary structure motifs and are within the scope of the present invention.

It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the libraries of compounds having stabilized secondary structures can be further diversified at specific functional moieties after the desired stabilized structures are formed. For example, free or latent amino acid functionalities may be diversified, or alternatively or additionally, free or latent functionality present on the cross-linkers may be diversified. In particularly preferred embodiments, in but one example, the hydrophobicity of stabilized structures may be increased by the introduction of hydroxyl moieties. As one of ordinary skill in the art will realize, the diversification reactions will be selected to introduce functionalities compatible with the particular stabilized structures and the desired biological interactions, and these functionalities include, but are not limited to hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, phenoxy, methoxy, halide, benzene, heteroaryl, carboxyl, carboxalkyl, carboxaryl, arylalkyl, thio and hydroxyl.

Uses of the Novel Stabilized Structures of the Present Invention

The novel stabilized structures, libraries, and methods for making said novel stabilized structures of the present invention can be utilized in various disciplines. Any available method may be employed to screen the libraries produced according to the present invention to identify those with desirable characteristics for a selected application.

To give just a few examples, the present invention can be used to produce novel stabilized structures that control (i.e., promote or inhibit) cell functions. Such compounds may be formulated and utilized as therapeutic pharmaceuticals. For example, such therapeutic pharmaceuticals, through interactions with cellular receptors, can control cell proliferation, viral replication, gene expression, or any other cell signaling process.

More specifically, as mentioned above, many biologically important protein/protein interactions, such as p53/MDM2 (see FIGS. 15 and 16) and Bcl-X1/Bak (see FIGS. 17 and 18) are mediated by one protein donating a helix into a cleft of its helix-accepting partner. The interaction of p53 and MDM2 has been discussed in detail (see, Shair “A Closer View of an Oncoprotein-tumor Suppressor Interaction, Chem. & Biol. 1997, 4, 791, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference) and mutations in the p53 gene have been identified in virtually half of all reported cancer cases. As stresses are imposed on a cell, p53 is believed to orchestrate a response that leads to either cell-cycle arrest and DNA repair, or programmed cell death. As well as mutations in the p53 gene that alter the function of the p53 protein directly, p53 can be altered by changes in MDM2. The MDM2 protein has been shown to bind to p53 and disrupt transcriptional activation by associating with the transactivation domain of p53. For example, an 11 amino-acid peptide derived from the transactivation domain of p53 forms an amphipathic α-helix of 2.5 turns that inserts into the MDM2 crevice. Thus, novel alpha helix structures generated by the method of the present invention can be engineered to generate structures that may bind tightly to the helix acceptor and disrupt native protein-protein interactions. These structures may then be screened using high throughput techniques to identify optimal small molecule peptides. The novel structures that disrupt the MDM2 interaction might be useful for many applications, including, but not limited to, control of soft tissue sarcomas (which overexpresses MDM2 in the presence of wild type p53). These cancers may be held in check with small molecules that could intercept MDM2, thereby preventing suppression of p53. Additionally, small molecules disrupters of MDM2-p53 interactions could be used as adjuvant therapy to help control and modulate the extent of the p53 dependent apoptosis response in conventional chemotherapy. FIG. 15 shows that stabilized helices may inactivate overexpressed MDM2 and FIG. 16 depicts novel stabilized structures to be utilized for the P53/Mdm2 system. Similarly, FIG. 17 depicts novel stabilized structures utilized for the Bak/Bcl-X_(L) system and FIG. 18 depicts the binding of Bak peptides to BCl-X_(L).

In addition to the abovementioned uses, the inventive stabilized structures can be used for studies in bioinorganic chemistry or in catalysis, either as a ligand for a transition metal capable of mimicking an important biological environment, or by acting in concert with a particular transition metal catalyst to effect a desired chemical reaction.

Furthermore, the inventive stabilized structures are also useful in the area of materials science. For example, molecules such as lipids and other polymeric molecules may be attached to the terminal peptide moieties and thus generate potentially important biomaterials.

It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention is not intended to be limited to the abovementioned uses, but rather may be employed in many suitable contexts and disciplines.

Abstract

Peptides are excellent protein ligands, both for their tight binding and for the ease by which can be discovered using diversity based techniques. On the other hand, peptides are poor therapeutics because of their low membrane permeability and susceptibility to protease cleavage. To enhance the bioavailability of short α-helical peptides, we have developed a chemical system wherein all-hydrocarbon covalent crosslinks are installed across one and two turns of an α-helix using olefin metathesis chemistry. By screening crosslinker position, stereochemistry and crosslinker length, we have determined the optimal crosslinking geometry for maximum metathesis yield and maximum helix-stabilization in a model system. The installation of this optimal crosslink system enhances the helix content of a model peptide from 41% to 85%, which is comparable to the best helix enhancement seen in other systems. Installation of this crosslink system also enhances resistance to trypsin cleavage by over 40-fold when compared to the unmodified control peptide.

Peptides that bind macromolecular receptors in an extended conformation can often be converted to mimetics that retain binding but have improved protease resistance and membrane permeability¹. However, peptides that must fold upon themselves in order to bind a receptor have proven difficult to improve by similar approaches, because of their larger size and the difficulty of mimicking functionality presented on a complex folded molecular surface. One such folded peptide structure that participates widely in biomolecular recognition events is the α-helix^(2,3). Most peptides that bind their receptors in an α-helical conformation have little helical structure when free in solution. Stabilizing the helical form of such peptides is thus expected to favor receptor binding by virtue of preorganization. Furthermore, the intramolecular hydrogen bonding associated with helix formation reduces the exposure of the polar amide backbone, thereby reducing the barrier to membrane penetration and increasing the resistance to protease cleavage.

A number of approaches for covalent helix-stabilization have been reported⁴, but most involve crosslinks that are both polar and pharmacologically labile, such as disulfides⁵ and lactam bridges^(6,7). An important conceptual advance on this front is the development by Grubbs and co-workers of chemistry for olefinic crosslinking of helices through O-allyl serine residues located on adjacent helical turns, via ruthenium-catalyzed ring closing metathesis (RCM)⁸. The particular crosslinks analyzed in that study, however, showed no evidence of enhancing helical stability, highlighting the difficulty of this problem from a design standpoint. Here we have taken an alternate metathesis-based approach, namely to screen multiple configurations of all-hydrocarbon crosslinks differing in position of attachment, stereochemistry, and crosslinker length. Where some configurations impart significant helix-stabilization, others actually destabilize the helix. We show that stabilizing an α-helix in this way leads to markedly increased resistance to proteolysis.

The actual structure of crosslinks positioned on one face of an α-helix is very dependent upon the stereochemistry at the attachment points (FIG. 19). We therefore designed unnatural amino acids 1 having either R or S stereochemistry at the α-carbon, and bearing alkyl tethers of various lengths (FIG. 19). To avoid the intrinsic helix-destabilizing effect of D-configured amino acids while capitalizing on the helix-stabilizing effect of α,α-disubstituted amino acids we introduced an α-methyl group into 1. We incorporated these synthetic amino acids across either one or two turns (i and i+4, or i+7 position, respectively; FIG. 19) of the C-peptide sequence from Rnase A⁹; this particular peptide was chosen because it exhibits partial helicity in water, allowing us to observe both increases and decreases in helical content owing to modifications¹⁰.

None of the peptides in the R_(i,i+4)S(x) series (x=5,6,7) underwent metathesis to any measurable extent. In the R_(i,i+4)R(x) series, the peptide having a 6-carbon crosslink (x=6) failed to metathesize, but that having a 7-carbon crosslink (x=7) formed to the extent of 17%, and the metathesis reaction leading to the 8-carbon crosslinked peptide (x=8) went to completion (>98%) (Table 1). In the S_(i,i+4)S(x) series, the shortest member (x=6) again failed to undergo RCM, but the longer versions, x=7 and 8, underwent 68% and >98% conversion, respectively. In the R_(i,i+7)S(x) series the crosslinks were again formed with increasing efficiently as they became longer (x=8, <5%; x=9, 51%; 10, 77%; 11, >98%; 12, >98% ). Two general trends are evident from these reactions. First, the conversions by RCM increase as a function of increasing ring size in the macrocyclic crosslink. Indeed, the 34-membered macrocycle in S_(i,i+7)R(12) is formed rapidly and efficiently, despite being one of the largest macrocycles closed by RCM to date¹¹. Second, small changes in ring size can cause dramatic effects on the efficiency of crosslinking; for example, the 30-membered macrocycle in R_(i,i+7)S(8) fails to form appreciably, whereas the 31-membered ring of R_(i,i+7)S(9) forms to the extent of 50%. We believe both effects can be explained by templating of the RCM reaction through helix induction of the unmetathesized precursor peptides on the solid support in the solvent dichloroethane. According to this explanation, tethers that are too short to span the gap along the face of the templating helix are not metathesized efficiently.

To determine the effect of olefinic crosslinking on the helical propensity of the peptides, we used circular dichroism to provide a quantitative measure of helical content¹² (FIG. 20). As a benchmark, the control unmodified RNase A peptide is ˜40% α-helical in water containing 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid at 4° C. All peptides that underwent RCM to the extent of ˜50% or more were measured in both uncrosslinked and crosslinked forms. In most cases, and as expected¹³, inclusion of the two α,α-disubstituted amino acids into the peptide increased its helical content with respect to the unmodified control. In the i,i+4 peptide series, crosslinking neither stabilized nor destabilized the helix with respect to the corresponding uncrosslinked modified peptide; the reasons for this effect are not apparent from inspection of models. RCM crosslinking of the modified i,i+7 peptides produced effects ranging from 21% destabilization to significant stabilization of α-helical structure. Specifically, the helical content of the R_(i,i+7)S(9) and (10) peptides decreased by 21% and 12% following RCM, whereas that of the R_(i,i+7)S(11) peptide increased by 26%. Crosslinking of the R_(i,i+7)S(12) peptide produced cis and trans double bond isomers one of which was more stabilizing than the other (18% vs 7%)¹⁴. The overall trends seen in the R_(i,i+7)S series can be rationalized as follows: crosslinks of 9 and 10 carbons are too short to permit the formation of an unstrained helix, 11 carbons provides the optimal fit, and 12 carbons are longer than necessary and therefore do not constrain the helix as effectively as the 11 carbon crosslink. Importantly, the introduction and crosslinking of two modified amino acids as an 11 atom hydrocarbon chain stabilizes the helix by 44% when compared to an unmodified control peptide, an extent that is comparable to the best seen with other crosslinking systems⁶. As determined by sedimentation equilibrium, all of the peptides were monomeric under the conditions of the circular dichroism experiments, indicating that the helix induction is not due to aggregation¹⁵.

To assess the effect of the olefin in the crosslink on helix-stability, we reduced the double bonds in the R_(i,i+7)S series by transfer hydrogenation on the solid phase^(16,17), purified the saturated, crosslinked peptides and determined their helical content by CD. Remarkably, the helical properties of the entire hydrogenated R_(i,i+7)S(9-12) peptide series was indistinguishable from that of the corresponding olefin containing peptides.

Cleavage by proteases is one of the main pathways for inactivation of peptides in a biological setting. As all known proteases bind their substrates in an extended rather than helical conformation, inducing helical structure is expected to confer protease stability, leading to increased potency in vivo. As an in vitro test of this concept, we took advantage of the fact that the crosslinked stretch of our peptides contains a lysine residue, which can be targeted by the protease trypsin. As expected, the unmodified control peptide is highly susceptible to cleavage by trypsin (k=2.38 M⁻¹ s⁻¹) (Table 2). Incorporation of the two unnatural amino acids at the i and i+7 positions, without crosslinking, decreases the cleavage rate by almost 5 fold, consistent with the helix-stabilizing effects noted above. Metathesis and subsequent hydrogenation produced a further stabilization, the magnitude of which is markedly dependent on the length of the crosslink. The extent of this crosslink-dependent stabilization precisely mirrored the extent of helix induction, being most pronounced for the R_(i,i+7)S(11) peptide. Overall, the incorporation of the crosslink unit stabilizes this peptide toward trypsin digestion by 41 fold.

The major goal of this research program is to improve the pharmacological properties of α-helical peptides through synthetic modification. The present report is an important first step toward that end. Here we show that an all-hydrocarbon crosslinking system can greatly increase the helical propensity and metabolic stability of peptides.

Experimental Procedures

General: ¹H (400 MHz) and ¹³C (100 MHz) NMR spectra were measured in DMSO-d₆ using tetramethylsilane as the standard for ¹H NMR and the solvent resonance (39.5 ppm) for ¹³C NMR. Mass spectral data were obtained at the Harvard Mass Spectrometry Facility.

Synthesis of Boc protected α-methyl, α-alkenyl amino acids: The synthesis is as described by Williams¹ for Boc protected α-methyl, α-allyl amino acid with the following modifications. The second alkylation with allyl-iodide as the electrophile was performed at −78° C. The second alkylation, with 4-iodo-1-butene, 5-iodo-1-pentene, 6-iodo-1-hexene, or 8-iodo-1-hexene as the electrophile was performed at −40° C. (MeCN/N₂ (liquid)) with 3 equivalents of the electrophile and the reaction was stirred for 30 min after the dropwise addition of potassium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide. The second alkylation, when it involved the electrophile 4-iodo-1-butene resulted in lower yields (45%) presumably due to competing elimination of the 4-iodo-1-butene to 1,3-butadiene. Deblocking of the α,α disubstituted amino acids was performed using the sodium in liquid ammonia hydrogenolysis described as described by Williams¹.

Deprotection of the Boc protected α-methyl, α-alkenyl amino acids and acetylation with 9-fluorenylmethyl carbamate: The Boc protected α-methyl, α-alkenyl amino acid was dissolved in CH₂Cl₂ (to yield a concentration of 500 mM) and cooled to 0° C. To this solution, an equal volume of trifluoroacetic acid was added and the solution is allowed to stir for 30 min. The product was concentrated on a rotovap fitted with a dry ice/acetone cold finger to trap TFA. The residue is dried on high vacuum until it contained less than 2 equivalents of residual TFA by weight. To this residue was added a 50% water/acetone solution to 300 mM final concentration of amino acid, 3 equivalents of Na₂CO₃ and 1.05 equivalents of Fmoc-N-hydroxy-succinimide. The nonhomogenous mixture was stirred for 12 hours at room temperature. The mixture was then acidified to pH 3 using hydrochloric acid and extracted three times with ethyl acetate. The combined ethyl acetate extracts were then dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, concentrated, and purfied using flash chromatography using MeOH:CH₂Cl₂:AcOH (3:96:1).

(S)-N-(9-Fluorenylmethyl carbamate)-2-(2′-propenyl)alanine (“Fmoc-S-1₁”). ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 7.90 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.73 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.42 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.34 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 5.70 (m, 1H), 5.07 (m, 2H), 4.25 (m, 3H), 2.65 (dd, J=13.6 Hz, J=7.2 Hz, 1H), 2.41 (dd, J=13.6 Hz, J=7.6 Hz, 1H), 1.30 (s, 3H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-₆) δ 174.7, 154.5, 143.6, 140.5, 133.0, 127.4, 126.9, 125.1, 119.9, 118.4, 65.2, 57.8, 46.7, 22.4, 21.1; HRMS calcd for C₂₁H₂₁NO₄ (M+Na) 352.1549, found 352.1561.

(S)-N-(9-Fluorenylmethyl carbamate)-2-(2′-butenyl)alanine (“Fmoc-S-1₂”). ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 7.90 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.73 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.42 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.33 (t, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 5.79 (m, 1H), 5.01 (d, J=17.2 Hz, 1H), 4.95 (d, J=10.4 Hz, 1H), 4.25 (m, 3H), 1.93 (m, 3H), 1.75 (m, 1H), 1.35 (s, 3H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 175.1, 154.6, 143.7, 140.6, 138.1, 127.5, 127.0, 125.2, 120.0, 118.4, 65.2, 58.1, 46.7, 35.6, 27.7, 22.4; HRMS calcd for C₂₂H₂₃NO₄ (M+H) 366.1705, found 366.1709.

(S)-N-(9-Fluorenylmethyl carbamate)-2-(2′-pentenyl)alanine (“Fmoc-S-1₃”). ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 7.894 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.723 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.418 (t, J=8 Hz, 2H), 7.330 (td, J=7.2 Hz, J=1.2 Hz, 2H), 5.775 (m, 1H), 5.001 (dd, J=17.2 Hz, J=1.2 Hz, 1H), 4.955 (dd, J=10.4 Hz, J=1.2 Hz, 1H), 4.229 (m, 3H), 1.994 (t, J=6.4 Hz, 2H), 1.764 (m, 1H), 1.665 (m, 1H), 1.326 (br, 5H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ175.1, 154.5, 143.6, 140.5, 138.3, 127.4, 126.9, 125.1, 119.9, 114.8, 65.2, 58.2, 46.7, 36.3, 33.3, 22.6, 22.4; HRMS calcd for C₂₃H₂₅NO₄ (M+Na) 402.1682, found 402.1678.

(S)-N-(9-Fluorenylmethyl carbamate)-2-(2′-hexenyl)alanine (“Fmoc-S-1₄”). ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-₆) δ 7.87 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.70 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.40 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.31 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 5.75 (m, 1H), 4.97 (dd, J=17.2 Hz, J=2 Hz, 1H), 4.91 (dt, J=10 Hz, J=1.2 Hz, 1H), 4.22 (m, 3H), 1.98 (m, 2H), 1.75 (m, 1H), 1.66 (m, 1H), 1.31 (m, 4H), 1.20 (s, 3H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 175.5, 154.5, 143.6, 140.5, 138.4, 127.4, 126.9, 125.1, 119.9, 114.7, 65.2, 58.2, 46.7, 36.5, 33.2, 28.5, 22.8, 22.4; HRMS calcd for C₂₄H₂₇NO₄ (M+Na) 416.1838, found 416.1848.

(S)-N-(9-Fluorenylmethyl carbamate)-2-(2′-octenyl)alanine (“Fmoc-S-1₆”). ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 7.89 (d, J=8 Hz, 2H), 7.72 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.42 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.33 (td, J=7.2 Hz, J=0.8 Hz, 2H), 5.78 (m, 1H), 4.98 (d, J=17 Hz, 1H), 4.93 (d, J=10 Hz, 1H), 4.23 (m, 3H), 1.99 (dt, J=7.2 Hz, J=6.8 Hz, 2H), 1.76 (m, 1H), 1.68 (m, 1H), 1.33 (br, 4H), 1.23 (br, 7H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 175.0, 154.5, 143.6, 140.5, 138.5, 127.4, 126.8, 125.1, 119.9, 114.4, 65.2, 58.2, 46.7, 36.6, 33.2, 29.0, 28.4, 28.2, 23.1, 22.4; HRMS calcd for C₂₆H₃₁NO₄ (M+Na) 444.2151, found 444.2151.

(R)-N-(9-Fluorenylmethyl carbamate)-2-(2′-propenyl)alanine (“Fmoc-R-1₁”). ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 7.90 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.73 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.42 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.34 (t, J=6.4 Hz, 2H ), 5.69 (m, 1H), 5.06 (m, 2H), 4.25 (m, 3H), 2.65 (dd, J=13.6 Hz,J=6.8 Hz, 1H), 2.42 (dd, J=13.2 Hz, J=7.6 Hz, 1H) 1.30 (s, 3H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 174.7, 154.5, 143.6, 140.5, 133.0, 127.4, 126.9, 125.1, 119.9, 118.4, 65.2, 57.8, 46.7, 22.4, 21.1; HRMS calcd for C₂₁H₂₁NO₄ (M+Na) 374.1369, found 374.1373.

(R)-N-(9-Fluorenylmethyl carbamate)-2-(2′-pentenyl)alanine (“Fmoc-R-1₃”). ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 7.90 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.73 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.42 (t, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.33 (t, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 5.78 (m, 1H), 5.00 (d, J=17.6 Hz, 1H), 4.96 (d, J=10.4 Hz, 1H), 4.24 (m, 3H), 1.99 (m, 2H), 1.78 (m, 1H), 1.68 (m, 1H), 1.33 (br, 5H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 175.1, 154.5, 143.6, 140.5, 138.3, 127.4, 126.9, 125.1, 119.9, 114.8, 65.2, 58.2, 46.7, 36.2, 33.3, 22.6, 22.4; HRMS calcd for C₂₃H₂₅NO₄ (M+H) 380.1862, found 380.1881.

(R)-N-(9-Fluorenylmethyl carbamate)-2-(2′-hexenyl)alanine (“Fmoc-R-1₄”). ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 7.90 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.73 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.42 (t, J=7.6 Hz, 2H), 7.33 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 5.76 (m, 1H), 5.00 (dd, J=17.2 Hz, J=2 Hz, 1H), 4.94 (dt, J=10.4 Hz, J=0.8 Hz, 1H), 4.24 (m, 3H), 2.02 (br, 2H), 1.77 (m, 1H), 1.68 (m, 1H), 1.32 (br, 4H), 1.23 (br, 3H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-d₆) δ 175.1, 154.5, 143.6, 140.5, 138.4, 127.4, 126.9, 125.1, 119.9, 114.6, 65.2, 58.2, 46.7, 36.5, 33.2, 28.5, 22.7, 22.4; HRMS calcd for C₂₄H₂₇NO4 (M+Na) 416.1838, found 416.1823.

Peptide Synthesis: The peptides were synthesized manually, using solid phase peptide and Fmoc chemistry on Rink Amide AM resin with a loading of 0.65 mmol/g resin. α,α-Di-substituted amino acids were coupled using O-(7-azabenzotriazol-1-yl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate (HATU) as the activating agent, three equivalents of the amino acid, and coupling times were typically two hours. The following amino acid coupled to the free amine of the α,α-di-substituted amino acids was double coupled using HATU. The peptides were cleaved using standard protocols, purified using C18 reverse phase chromatography and their identities were confirmed using electrospray mass spectroscopy. The wild type peptide has the sequence: Ac-EWAETAAAKFLAAHA-NH₂. The peptides synthesized in the R_(i,i+7)S(x) series have the general sequence: Ac-EWAEyAAAKFLzAHA-NH₂ where (y,z) were substituted with the unnatural amino acid pairs (R-1₃,S-1₃), (R-1₃,S-1₄), (R-1₄,S-1₄), (R-1₃,S-1₆), and (R-1₄,S-1₆) for the peptides R_(i,i+7)S(8), R_(i,i+7)S(9), R_(i,i+7)S(10), R_(i,i+7)S(11), and R_(i,i+7)S(12) respectively. The peptides synthesized in the S_(i,i+4)S(x), R_(i,i+4)R(x), and R_(i,i+4)S(x) series have the general sequence: Ac-EWAETAAyKFLzAHA-NH₂ where (y,z) were substituted with the unnatural amino acid pairs (S-1₁,S-1₃), (S-1₁,S-1₄), (S-1₃,S-1₃), (R-1₁,R-1₃), (R-1₁,R-1₄), (R-1₃,R-1₃), (R-1₁,S-1₂), (R-1₁,S-1₃), and (R-1₁,S-1₄) for the peptides S_(i,i+4)S(6), S_(i,i+4)S(7), S_(i,i+4)S(8), R_(i,i+4)R(6), R_(i,i+4)R(7), R_(i,i+4)R(8), R_(i,i+4)S(5), R_(i,i+4)S(6), and R_(i,i+4)S(7) respectively. Ac and NH₂ represent N-terminal acetylation and a C-terminal primary amide respectively.

Peptide metathesis and purification: 200 μL of 10 mM Bis(tricyclohexylphosphine)benzylidine ruthenium (IV) dichloride (Grubbs catalyst) in 1,2-dichloroethane was degassed and added to 20 mg of N-terminal capped peptide still bound to the solid support in a disposable fritted reaction vessel. The reaction was allowed to proceed at room temperature for two hours and then the catalyst was filtered off. The catalyst addition and 2 hour metathesis reaction was repeated once to drive the slow metathesis reactions to completion. The resin bound peptide was then washed, dried and cleaved according to standard Fmoc peptide cleavage protocols (95% TFA, 2.5% H₂O, 2.5% triisopropylsilane)¹⁹. The cleaved peptides are purified using C₁₈ reverse phase HPLC. All of the metathesized peptides elute before the unmetathesized starting material.

Olefin hydrogenation on solid support: Hydrogenation of olefin containing peptides on solid support was performed by adding 200 μL of a solution of 0.7 M 2,4,6 tri-isopropyl benzenesulfonyl hydrazide and 1.4 M piperidine in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone to 20 mg of olefin containing peptide on solid support in a disposable fritted reaction vessel. The vessel was sealed and placed in a 47° C. water bath for two hours. After two hours the solution was filtered off and the hydrazine addition and reaction at 47° C. is repeated four more times. The progress of the reaction can be monitored by injecting the cleavage product of a few beads into an electrospray reverse phase LC mass spectrometer or by reverse phase HPLC monitored at 280 nm. The retention time of the hydrogenated peptides falls between the metathesized, unhydrogenated peptides and the unmetathesized peptides.

Circular dichroism: Circular dichroism spectra were collected on a Jasco J-710 spectropolarimeter at 4° C. A typical sample was prepared by lyophilizing a measured volume of peptide solution and then resuspending it in 3 ml of 0.1%TFA in water to obtain a solution with a 280 nm absorbance of approximately 0.06 absorbance units. The sample was placed in a 1 cm CD cuvette and the ultraviolet absorbance was measured. The circular dichroism spectrum was measured and a baseline CD spectrum of 0.1%TFA in water was subtracted from it. The baseline subtracted CD spectrum was then normalized using the 280 nm absorbance.

Analytical centrifugation: Sedimentation equilibrium experiments were performed on a Beckman Optima XL-A analytical centrifuge. The samples were centrifuged at 35,000 RPM at 4° C. and monitored at 280 nm. The data was fit to a single species model. The sedimentation equilibrium experiments were run on the identical samples from which circular dichroism spectra were recorded. All of the peptides fit to an ideal monomer indicating that the helix induction seen is not due to aggregation.

Peptide trypsin digest: A typical peptide trypsin digest experiment was performed by adding 5 μL of a 20 x trypsin solution in 1 mM HCl to a 100 μL solution of peptide at 9 μM in 10% EtOH in 50 mM Tris at pH 8.3. The reaction was allowed to proceed at room temperature for 30 min at which time it was quenched by adding 100 μL of a 1% trifluoroacetic acid solution and frozen on dry ice. The sample was then thawed and injected into a reverse phase HPLC on a C18 column for quantitation at 280 nm. The cleavage rate constants were obtained by performing the digest experiments at multiple trypsin concentrations and fitting to a kinetic model that is first order in both enzyme and substrate concentration.

REFERENCES AND NOTES

1) Gante, J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1994, 33, 1699-1720.

2) Sattler, M.; Liang, H.; Nettesheim, D.; Meadows, R. P.; Harlan, J. E.; Eberstadt, M.; Yoon, H. S.; Shuker, S. B.; Chang, B. S.; Minn, A. J.; Thompson, C. B.; Fesik, S. W. Science 1997, 275, 983-6.

3) Kussie, P. H.; Gorina, S.; Marechal, V.; Elenbaas, B.; Moreau, J.; Levine, A. J.; Pavletich, N. P. Science 1996, 274, 948-53.

4) Andrews, M. J. I.; Tabor, A. B. Tetrahedron 1999, 55, 11711-11743.

5) Jackson, D. Y.; King, D. S.; Chmielewski, J.; Singh, S.; Schultz, P. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 9391-9392.

6) Phelan, J. C.; Skelton, N. J.; Braisted, A. C.; McDowell, R. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 455-460.

7) Bracken, C.; Gulyas, J.; Taylor, J. W.; Baum, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1994, 116, 6431-6432.

8) Blackwell, H. E.; Grubbs, R. H. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn. Engl. 1998, 37, 3281-3284.

9) Bierzynski, A.; Kim, P. S.; Baldwin, R. L. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 1982, 79, 2470-2474.

10) The wild type peptide has the sequence: Ac-EWAETAAAKFLAAHA-NH₂. The peptides synthesized in the R_(i,i+7)S(x) series have the general sequence: Ac-EWAEyAAAKFLzAHA-NH₂ where (y,z) were substituted with the unnatural amino acid pairs (R-1₃,S-1₃), (R-1₃,S-1₄), (R-1₄,S-1₄), (R-1₃,S-1₆), and (R-1₄,S-1₆) for the peptides R_(i,i+7)S(8), R_(i,i+7)S(9), R_(i,i+7)S(10), R_(i,i+7)S(11), and R_(i,i+7)S(12) respectively. The peptides synthesized in the S_(i,i+4)S(x), R_(i,i+4)R(x), and R_(i,i+4)S(x) series have the general sequence: Ac-EWAETAAyKFLzAHA-NH₂ where (y,z) were substituted with the unnatural amino acid pairs (S-1₁,S-1₃), (S-1₁,S-1₄), (S-1₃,S-1₃), (R-1₁,R-1₃), (R-1₁,R-1₄), (R-1₃,R-1₃), (R-1₁,S-1₂), (R-1₁,S-1₃), and (R-1₁,S-1₄) for the peptides S_(i,i+4)S(6), S_(i,i+4)S(7), S_(i,i+4)S(8), R_(i,i+4)R(6), R_(i,i+4)R(7), R_(i,i+4)R(8), R_(i,i+4)S(5), R_(i,i+4)S(6), and R_(i,i+4)S(7) respectively. Ac and NH₂ represent N-terminal acetylation and a C-terminal primary amide respectively.

11) Clark, T. D.; Ghadiri, M. R. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 12364-12365.

12) Greenfield, N.; Fasman, G. D. Biochemistry 1969, 8, 4108-4116.

13) Kaul, R.; Balaram, P. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry 1999, 7, 105-117.

14) C18 reverse phase HPLC of R_(i,i+7)S(12) shows two separable product peaks (a) and (b) that have identical molecular masses (1760 Daltons). Peak (a) has an NMR peak at (□=5.49) and peak (b) has an NMR peak at (□=5.52). Hydrogenated R_(i,i+7)S(12) is a single peak by reverse phase C18 HPLC.

15) See “Analytical Centrifugation” in supporting information.

16) Lacombe, P.; Castagner, B.; Gareau, Y.; Ruel, R. Tetrahedron Letters 1998, 39, 6785-6786.

17) Cusack, N. J.; Reese, C. B.; Risius, A. C.; Roozpeikar, B. Tetrahedron 1976, 32, 2157-2162.

18) Williams, R. M.; Im, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 9276-9286.

19) Novabiochem Novabiochem Catalog & Peptide Synthesis Handbook, 1997.

Table 1

Percent conversions for a two hour metathesis reaction performed on solid support with 10 mM Grubbs catalyst in 1,2-dichloroethane. Percent conversion product/(product+starting material) as determined by reverse phase HPLC.

TABLE 1 % Con- % Con- % Con- Crosslink version Crosslink version Crosslink version R_(i,i+7)S(8) 0 S_(i,i+4)S(6) 0 R_(i,i+4)R(6) 0 R_(i,i+7)S(9) 51 S_(i,i+4)S(7) 68 R_(i,i+4)R(7) 17 R_(i,i+7)S(10) 77 S_(i,i+4)S(8) >98 R_(i,i+4)R(8) >98 R_(i,i+7)S(11) >98 R_(i,i+7)S(12) >98

TABLE 2 Cleavage rate constant (M⁻¹ s⁻¹) Metathesized and Crosslink Unmetathesized hydrogenated Control 2.39 R_(i,i+7)S(9) 0.37 R_(i,i+7)S(10) 0.34 R_(i,i+7)S(11) 0.50 0.058 R_(i,i+7)S(12) 0.12

EQUIVALENTS

Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, numerous equivalents to the inventive stabilized compounds and methods of use thereof described herein. Such equivalents are considered to be within the scope of this invention and are covered by the following claims. 

1. A method for synthesizing stabilized alpha helix structures comprising: synthesizing a peptide from a selected number of standard or non-standard amino acids, wherein said peptide comprises at least two moieties capable of undergoing reaction to promote carbon-carbon bond formation; and contacting said peptide with a reagent to generate at least one cross-linker between said at least two moieties and to effect stabilization of a alpha helix structure, wherein the length and geometry of said cross-linker is optimized to improve the yield of helix content and stability of said alpha helix structure.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein synthesizing a peptide comprises synthesizing the peptide fragment that forms the donor helix in the native complex p53 having at least two vinyl amino acids incorporated therein.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein synthesizing a peptide comprises synthesizing the peptide fragment that forms the donor helix in the native complex p53 having at least one divinyl amino acid and at least two vinyl amino acids incorporated therein.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said cross-linker comprises 11 carbon atoms.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising hydrogenating the peptide after said contacting step.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising purifying the peptide.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising purifying the peptide.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said method is performed in solution.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said method is performed on a solid support.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein said moieties in said peptide are unnatural amino acids.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein said peptide comprises two moieties, wherein the first moiety is at a desired position i along the peptide and the second moiety is at position i+7 from the first moiety.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein said cross-linker comprises at least 8 carbon atoms.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said cross-linker comprises at least 10 carbon atoms.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein said cross-linker comprises 11 carbon atoms.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein synthesizing the peptide comprises synthesizing a portion of the peptide fragment that forms the donor helix in the native complex p53 having at least two vinyl amino acids incorporated therein.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein synthesizing the peptide comprises synthesizing a portion of the peptide fragment that forms the donor helix in the native complex p53 having at least one divinyl amino acid and at least two vinyl amino acids incorporated therein.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein synthesizing the peptide comprises synthesizing a peptide that comprises the MDM2 binding site of the donor helix in the native complex p53.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein synthesizing the peptide comprises synthesizing the peptide that comprises the MDM2 binding site of the donor helix in the native complex p53 having at least two vinyl amino acids incorporated therein.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein synthesizing the peptide comprises synthesizing the peptide that comprises the MDM2 binding site of the donor helix in the native complex p53 having at least one divinyl amino acid and at least two vinyl amino acids incorporated therein. 